A Southern Wind Blows: A LoK Saga
by glastail24
Summary: In unknown deserts, a storm brews...This is about an O.C. and Korra characters. There will be love, adventure, intrigue, and mystery. This is my first time doing this sort of thing, so I hope you bear with me-I know it starts slow, but things are heat up quickly. Please enjoy my work and LEAVE COMMENTS!
1. Prologue: On Desert Storms…

Prologue: On Desert Storms…

"Wahil! Wahil! Not so fast! The donkey-camels cannot keep up!"

"We don't have much time Josef! We must hurry before this storm engulfs us all! The caravan will just have to be abandoned." With that, the heavy set merchant set his swollen eyes on the sandstorm ridden path before him, sandal covered toes slowly trekking through the shifty ground. Behind the departing merchant, his caravan party of twenty slowly began to give up on the items they carried, solemnly letting go of their masters' life's wealth in favor of hopefully getting through and surviving the sandstorm from nowhere, Josef being the last to move on…

After what seemed an hour of endlessly shuffling through searing sand, Josef looked around to see less than half of his fellow caravan members still with him. Most were knee-deep in sand looking on the verge of giving up; others were prostrated on the ground, praying to and calling on the spirits with choked voices; while still others were face-down in the sand, looking as though they may never stir again. Josef cursed himself and his inability to help—none of the benders he hired could be of any help.

Weary, but determined to find an escape for his people, Josef sped up his pace trying to catch-up with his boss, and longtime friend. After a few minutes, he spotted Wahil lying on the ground, eyes closed. He ran.

"Wahil! Wahil! Get up! You cannot stop now!" He reached his friend and grabbed him by his collar, yanking his dusty and chapped face from the sand.

Wahil looked up at him with swollen eyes and parched lips.

"I think this is the end my friend. I can go no further."

"No! You can't give up Wahil! You have a family to return home to, and riches to be made! You promised everyone here an adventure of a lifetime, filled with riches, stories, and amazing discoveries! You must keep your promise!"

Wahil coughed, wheezing at the sand quickly filling his throat.

"Some promises cannot be to be kept…"said Wahil as his eyes slowly began to close and his breathing became shallower.

"No Wahil! Stay with me. Stay with me!" Josef shook his friend's body vigorously. "Somebody help! Somebody—"but some_thing_ flew through the air, and hit the back of Josef head. And as the edges of his vision began to dim and fade, and his body slid to the ground, he thought to himself, _Hmm, what a humor the spirits should have that as the storm seems near its end, so are we, _and slowly drifted off to the image of a shadowy figure approaching him…


	2. Chapter 1: On Desert Finds

On Desert Finds…

"Mama, Mama! Who are those strange men? Are they going to sleep forever? Can they be my friend when they wake up?"

"Hush Amul! Leave them alone. Those strangers were very sick and need to rest."

"But Mama!" She only glared. Amul pouted and sulked away.

I watched my mother and brother from the doorway of our sleeping room, but I too was intensely curious of our new guests. We had never had strangers here. Though my parents reminded us that there was a great world out there filled with all kinds of different people, I had never known anyone outside of our village. While there were stories of those outsiders who had sometimes been found in the sand wastes or wandered to our village, it never happened in my lifetime, and the few of our village who had managed to venture out rarely seemed to return.

"I'm curious about them too sister. I hope they wake up soon." I jumped at the voice of my eldest brother behind me. Normally I was good at hearing people, but he was the only one who managed to always surprise me. I turned around and looked at him.

"Mama says we are to stay quiet and in the back until they wake up and father can deal with them. She says that we don't know the kind of people they might be, and father doesn't want us in danger if something goes wrong." I silently sighed. I knew that my mother and father were probably right, and my brother was right to listen. I turned to look at the strangers one more time before turning and heading to my mat, willing myself to sleep.

"Wake up! Wake up, sister! The strange men are finally awake!" Amul practically jumped all over me with giddiness, disturbing me from my sweet dreams. I gave him a look that said _alright, I understand, now leave me alone_, and he left. I looked across the room at my other brother's mat and found him grinning at me. I smiled and got up to follow our brother out of the room.

In our living room, my father sat quietly next to my mother with the dining mat spread out on the floor in front of them, filled with an ample lunch provided by the village; my eldest brother sat on the right side of my father in the seat of honor, while Amul sat on the left side of my mom, vibrating with his barely contained excitement, and I sat on the left side of Amul. As the family with the biggest living room, it had been our duty to house the strangers, while everyone else in the village contributed to providing to the guests other needs. Such it was then that my family found ourselves staring at eight groggy strangers in our home that morning.

My father cleared his throat. "Welcome strangers, to our land, village, and home." A thin, scruffy looking man with a worried face stared at my father while a large, proud-looking man next to him stared at my father indignantly. After some time, the large one spoke.

"Thank you, stranger, for your hospitality. I had surely thought we would all die out there in this waste of a land. Speaking of land, _where_ exactly are we? And _whom_ are we in the presence of?" My father laughed at this; a whole body affair starting with his belly and ending with his whole body vibrating. A broad, strong man of impressive stature, and beard, the warm and involved laugh helped disarm anyone.

"As your rescuers, I think I might be asking the questions first." The large man reddened slightly at the comment, his proud posture wavering a bit at his temporary lack of etiquette.

"How terribly ill of me, kind sir. I am the great merchant Wahil Jeroh from the far lands of the former Fire Nation. Next to me is my trusted second, and longtime friend, Josef, and the other people you see around me are the members of our caravan." Upon remembering his scattered caravan, and scattered people, he seemed to gather a slight sense of loss and sadness around him; so did the others, especially his friend Josef.

My father nodded solemnly at the man before him.

"While I have never heard of this Fire Nation, I welcome you to the land of my people: the Horathandhi. I am the leader our people, Wiseman Ullrithik-gi Dun Toaht. This is my wife Mohanaj-ji Sans Toaht; my eldest son Karanthik-gi Sans Toaht; my younger son Amuljan-gi Toj Toaht; and my daughter, and youngest, Nasah-ji Qa Toaht." We nodded in a slight bow at each of our names being introduced, as is custom, though I did it more emphatically to hide the blush creeping up my face at the attention.

"While preparing for the day's necessities, this golden cobra came to us in our tasks, and seemed to communicate something urgent." The party seemed to stir with slight alarm at the mention of the cobra, but it only stirred lazily at its mention, popping a curious eye open to watch. I too was alarmed at its presence, never having noticed it before, but was also captivated by it.

"We followed it into the sand wastes, and found your people suffering the throes of a sandstorm, Spoke with the wind-sand to quickly send extra aid. Unfortunately we were too late for some of you…" At this, the one called Josef looked away. My father continued. "After we got those of you we could safely back, we went to find your belongings." Here he looked at Josef. "It was actually you who told us to look for your possessions, as I witnessed a bowl fly through the sand and hit you in the head. When I examined it, I noticed it was like nothing we had ever seen before, so I told my men to look for other strange stuff and bring what they found back to the village. In the end, we have recovered a great quantity of your wealth, though sadly, we know this can never replace the wealth that is people's lives." At this my father paused in silence as he let his guests mourn the memory of their lost companions. Moments passed before anyone was ready to speak again.

"We thank you so much for your hospitality, once again, for your kind thought and unexpected care. You've done your best to save us and our belongings, risking your lives for mere strangers. In fact, how was it that you came to rescue you us from that impossible situation—that which no man nor bender could escape from?" At this my dad donned a look of mild confusion; what was mild in him was in varying degrees of greatness on the rest of us. Amul spoke first.

"What do you mean no escape? It's a child's task of escaping from that sand devil. All you have to do is Speak with it and make it go away, and anyone can—" my dad cut him off, raising an eyebrow at him for his rudeness.

"What Amul means to say is that it is a strange thing that none of you Spoke with the sand devil to make it go away. Are there no Speakers in your party? It is dangerous to travel through these parts without one." Now it was their turn to look perplexed. Speaking for the first time, Josef jumped in.

"Uh, Ullrithik-gi? What do you mean by speakers? If you mean benders, we had one of each kind (with the exception of air), for all situations, though only our fire-bender remains today." A pale man in a red outfit in the back looked meekly up at this. "However, none could do anything to aid the situation. It was strange though,…perhaps it might be too much to bend the various elements of the sandstorm at once—unless you were the Avatar."

My father's face was blank. That meant he was even more confused than usual. He sucked in a large breath and stared at the men in front of him, though my family and I knew really he was looking through them—beyond them. Having come to a conclusion, he rose, and with him, us as well. Josef looked to Wahil for guidance, but Wahil just shrugged and stood up, with some effort, as well. Now we were all standing.

"Follow me," my father said, and lead everyone out of our hut.

In thirty minutes, we had all reached the outskirts of our village, and were facing the sand-filled landscape before us. My father stepped forward and faced us.

"These are the outskirts of our oasis village. The sand waste. Should we ever face danger from the wind-sand or need to manipulate it, we Speak with it. I will demonstrate." I looked at my brother Karan and he grinned back—it was always such a thrill to hear our father Speak; he had such a beautiful, deep voice. Standing in the midday sun, my father closed his eyes and rose his head to the sky.

"Mujahase. Father Sky. Mujaurumei. Mother Earth. Let me Speak with your child, the wind-sand." At that my father hummed a low pulsing rhythm, accompanying it with a steady clapping beat. As he did so, the sand before began to thrum softly, slowly growing to a pulse. Here my father began to slowly step in circles, spiraling around the pulsing sand before him. As he wound round and round, speeding up the tempos of his clapping and humming, the sand before him began to take shape. Growing to wordless singing, my father's musical frenzy helped talk the wind-sand into the sand phantom forms of our guests Wahil and Josef who, singing and dancing, joined my father in the Speak. After a few minutes of the festive routine, my father slowed his routine, transitioning back to humming and slower clapping, until, finally, the ground was still once again. Having finished his display, he grinned proudly at my brother and I, before returning to the group.

Wahil and Josef's faces were astonished. Instantly intrigued, Josef spoke first again.

"We've never seen anything like that before. And you called this…Speaking? Yes, it is most certainly different from bending. At least, it would appear so…" Surprisingly, the pale male from earlier, who I could only assume was what they called a "fire-bender" spoke up next.

"Wait—you can manipulate this element, this "wind-sand" even though you do no movement? At least no traditional movements of earth benders. Could it be airbending perhaps? Hardly any in many generations have witnessed that form…" Finally regaining his speech, Wahil cut in.

"But Ullrithik-gi did more than move isn't that right? I have a feeling the music is key to this form." Father smiled. Wahil had been somewhat correct.

"Yes Wahil, the music is essential to the technique. But so is the dancing. Both work in harmony for the music soothes Father Sky and the dancing massages Mother Earth. Both the dancing and singing communicates with and through their respective masters, opening up a connection between the two, allowing for the birth of their child, the wind-sand. By appeasing them both we harmonize them, and by bringing forth their child, we can Speak it, who, depending on what we perform for it, and how well, will help us out." All three men nodded in deep thought at this. The fire-bender was the first to respond.

"Well, after that display, I think it only fitting I demonstrate what it is we do in our homeland: bending—in this case, with fire." The man stepped a couple of feet forward, while Wahil and Josef motioned us to move back a few feet. When there was a safe buffer distance, the man began to move in a fierce motion of successive kicks, sweeps, and punches—but what was shocking was that at the end of each movement, fire spurted from his body, as though he were made of it. I was entranced.

When he finished, he walked back over with a grin on his face.

"That's was AMAZING!" cried out my brother Amul, while staring in admiration at the mystery of a man.

"Now you have surprised me in turn," my father said with a huge smile on his face. "Never have we witnessed such talent. And this is all done with the body? There is no talk?"

"No," replied the firebender. "Only harmonizing and utilizing the chakra in my body to harness the element."

My dad thought long and hard about this while my brother Amul bombarded the man with questions and requests for more displays. My brother Karan explained more to Josef about how the process of Speaking worked, while mother spoke with the rest of the group about their retrieved goods. Unnoticed, I stole myself away. Fire-bending! I had never seen something so beautiful! I was both scared and exhilarated the whole time. I thought the man would burn himself, but the fire seemed to do what he wanted! Coming from him! I could not believe my eyes! And Josef said there were more forms out there too? If so, I could not wait to witness those as well! Suddenly, I had an intense desire to see the whole world.

While in thought, however, I noticed the golden cobra had slithered it's way over to, winding itself about my arm as they were a pretty armlet. Holding my breath, I stared in surprise, but like earlier, it only peeked an eye at me, lazily questioning what I would do next. I decided that the cobra was female, and companion and I would call her Feydra. The sound of my mother calling my name brought me out of my excitement and wonderment, however.

"Nasah! Nasah! Come here!" I came. "We are going back to the village now, and you know it's dangerous for you out here alone. Father wants to throw a feast in honor of our guests." I was sad at the thought of having to leave my imaginings, but mother was right, it wasn't safe out here for me alone, andbesides, it was always a rare and fun time to have a village feast.

For three days, our village feasted with the strangers—well, they weren't strangers anymore. The pale firebender was named Kozu, and there were others: Tamul, Len, Wei, Trunx, and Shazu, and their bosses Wahil and Josef of course. Most were from the Fire Kindgom, with the exception of their leaders, who said they claimed no nation. All of them were really nice, but I was particularly drawn to Kozu, as well as my brothers. Throughout the feast he would perform displays of fire-bending for the village, and during the times he was not, he was steadily asking my brothers to teach him how to Speak, or telling stories of the lands beyond ours, the great wars, and the Avatars. When he began telling a story, all of the village would gather around to listen, even the adults. We were all curious about the strange lands and their strange powers and customs. But more than anything else, I wanted to know more about the Avatars. People amazing in their unique talents, like Kozu, but even more great as they could bend _all_ the elements. I longed to meet the new Avatar. Every time he brought up the new Avatar, I had my brother beg for more information about them, but all Kozu knew was that this cycle they were a female, and possibly a native water bender. My curiosity was not slacked at all.

On the third day of feasting, my father made an announcement to the village that shocked us all—and would change my life forever.

"I have deliberated much over these last few days. Our ancestors told us to never forget our brethren outside the sand-wastes, but we have grown negligent over time. We never cared to pursue knowledge about our estranged family. However, the spirits have brought us these newcomers, new friends, to renew our promise, and remind us we must not forget our bethren of this great world and that we should come to learn of their foreign ways, as they should come to know ours." Many of the villagers nodded at this. "That's why, in two weeks' time, my family will journey with Wahil and his caravan to meet with the all-mighty Avatar, and the expert elders of bending. We will learn about our differences and similarities, and bring light to our culture and customs in the eyes of other." At this the villagers chattered excitedly, until someone cried out in distress.

"But Ullrithik-gi, who guide our village while you are gone?" Many villagers expressed concern about that as well, and murmured the question throughout the crowd. My father simply raised a hand to quiet the crowd at that.

"My eldest has recently come of age having turned thirteen this past cycle, and he will look after the village in my absence. This will be his first task as a leader, and I have faith he will do a great job." A few of the villagers expressed doubt, but most knew my brother was a responsible young man and like my father, did a great job of managing and protecting his people. In fact, the one most upset about the choice was me. Karanthik was my best friend, and the only one who truly understood me. Who would I share my thoughts and time with in this strange new land we were traveling to? Practically reading my thoughts, Karan found my eyes in the crowd and flashed a quick, encouraging smile.

Two weeks passed quickly, and in no time our family, with the exception of a precious one, had packed-up and was ready to go. Wahil told us where we would be going, and between my dad, mother, and even my brother Amul, we would be safe from anything the wind-sand might throw. Kozu decided to stay at the village, saying he was up for a change of pace with the discovery of Speaking, but Karan told me he was more interested in the discovery of the single Sharazade two huts down.

When it came to saying goodbye to my brother, it was the hardest thing I've ever had to do. We stared long and hard at each other, before embracing in a quick hug. He knew how much I wished he was coming and I knew how much he wished he could come as well but we knew the arrangement was for the best. He would probably be chief of this village someday, Chief Karanthik-gi Sans Toaht if it came to pass. And leadership was about sacrifice. So he kissed me on my forehead, as a sign of good luck, and I got on my tippy toes and did the same to him. He looked at Feydra, who had decided to come and had curled herself comfortably around my neck, and told her to protect me. Then my father came and lifted me onto his shoulders, and we began the trek into the sand wastes.


	3. Chapter 2: On First Meetings

On First Meetings…

It was a long journey to the Avatar compound. We saw infinitely interesting sites along the way, and my desire to see the world grew even more—just as my desire to do so with Karan did as well. However, nothing burned more hotly within me than the desire to meet the fabled Avatar.

Finally, after five months of travel, we reached the avatar's compound at what was called the Southern Water Tribe. I was mystified. It was so cold! And the land was made of hard water! I had never seen so much water at once in all my life! And the people's clothing and styles were so foreign. I wanted to learn more about them, but still, I most wanted to learn more about the Avatar—and with such a foreign setting, I only desired to more.

After staying in the village for a week, we finally got the okay to visit the Avatar. I couldn't contain my excitement. For once, I was the one bouncing off the walls—I wish Karan could've seen it. We took a three day trek to reach the compound. I couldn't believe that the whole place was just for one person. Upon arriving, an old woman named Katara came out to great us. She said she was a water-bending master and wife of the former avatar, whom she called Avatar Aang, an airbender. She seemed nice enough, but I was anxious to meet the Avatar—Amul seemed to agree.

While she introduced my parents to different people eager to meet them, Amul and I grew more and more anxious. Sensing our restlessness, Katara told us we could wander around the complex and if we ran into the Avatar, well, it was up to us what we did next.

It was all I could do to not to sprint through the entire complex.

Amul and I turned every corner looking for the Avatar around it. We had no idea who we were looking for, just that they were female, and asked everyone we saw if they knew where to find the Avatar. After an hour of searching, we were quickly becoming discouraged. Then, we heard a loud battle cry. Not waiting for my brother, I immediately pursued its source. Suddenly my brother and I stumbled into a small courtyard with targets studded all around it, but in the center of it all was a little girl, not much bigger than me in fact, with her arms akimbo, hair in two pigtails, and huffing wildly. Though she was only nine like me, her azure eyes held a fiery fierceness I'd never seen before.

Scared to disrupt whatever was happening, I pulled my brother back behind the door to watch her in secret: the Avatar—I knew it instinctually. She started with fire, which still captivated me, though I was eager for more; she then scared me by making the actual ground, not soil or sand, move and seemed to control the earth as she began to do what they told me was earth-bending; but lastly she began to move water around as though it were her own limb. I had never seen something so fluid and beautiful. She was a creature not of this world. She was beautiful and majestic and both Amul and I were mesmerized.

For days we would return to the hidden courtyard and watch the Avatar in secret. It was like she was the air, and I could not try breathe every day until I had seen her and her bending. Finally, one day Master Katara introduced her to our parents, and subsequently us—or rather, Amul, as I was too shy and embarrassed to meet such a majestic creature, and hid behind a large vase in embarrassment. After that, my brother would walk the Avatar to her practices and stand there to watch, comment, cheer, or goad her through her training; fervent, but unyielding in my reserve, I would sit hiding behind bushes, Feydra sleepily by my side, watching them work, laughing sometimes at the Avatar's mistakes, gasping at her successes, smarting at my brother's criticisms. It was not long before I noticed the crush my brother developed on the Avatar. Every day he grew more and more eager to show off for her, and eventually began to teach her how to Speak.

The impromptu, but devoted lessons went on for about a month, but Korra never seemed to make any progress. I never lost hope that the Avatar would eventually master our form, but one day Korra finally got fed-up with trying to Speak and threw a fire ball in frustration. Unfortunately, that fireball just happened to be pitched at the bush I was hiding in. I choked on a squeak of surprise and hurt. Immediately my brother ran to my aid, while Korra followed, albeit confused. Behind the bush I lay in a ball, crying at the pain. Korra gasped.

"Oh gosh, I didn't notice you there, are you—" but my brother cut her off.

"Nasah. Nasah! Are you okay? Where does it hurt?" I pointed to my abdomen.

"I'll go get some help Nasah, okay? I'll be right back," and my brother dashed off before Korra could get a word in.

"Don't worry," she said, looking greatly worried herself. "Katara taught me how to heal." I looked up timidly at Korra who was so close to me know. How could someone so great be so kind to someone she didn't know? I watched as she began to bend some water, but Feydra suddenly reared at Korra with a full head, weary of Korra hurting my again. Korra halted, glancing nervously at the golden snake, but after I patted Feydra's head, she packed down, and Korra continued. She made a circle over my burn and made the water glow a brilliant blue. Suddenly it didn't hurt so bad, and when my face relaxed, Korra grinned an incomplete smile at me.

"While I might still working on my other techniques, I'm basically a pro a water-bending. You'll be healed-up in no time." I smiled weakly as I suddenly grew tired before watching my parents and brother show up with Katara and others quickly on their heels.

I woke up in a cozy, fur-covered room, covered in bandages around my abdomen. Feydra stirred mildly to the left of me, while on my right in a chair next to my bed lay the dozing Korra; however, my shifting work her up as well. She blinked sleepily at me and smiled.

"Good morning," she said lazily, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. I feebly smiled back.

"Look. I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday. I didn't know you were there and I got so frustrated, and I guess I just got, I dunno, kinda…careless." She blushed and looked away at the end.

I smiled a firm smile. After a moment of collecting herself, she seemed to completely change her mood, and surprised me by fixing determined eyes and a mischievous grin at me.

"Well, we've never been formally introduced. I'm Korra." Her grin brightened even more, and she held out her hand to shake. I hesitated, but took it and gave a little tug, then let go and smiled back. We stared at one another for a while. After a couple of minutes, Korra broke the silence.

"And it's kind of customary to say who you are in return. So you would be…?"

I looked down, smile lost. What could I do? How I wished Karan was here, he always helped with this sort of thing. My mind raced about what I should do, but having a brave moment of inspiration, I decided to try something.

Raising my hands, I put them over my lips and shook my head. I hoped she could get my meaning.

I hoped for too much.

"I don't understand what you're saying," said Korra confusedly.

That was exactly my point. So I tried the gesture again, and when _that_ failed again, I tried to make choking sounds. But Korra only got more confused—and slightly alarmed. About to give up, Amul managed to save the day by coming in and perceiving the situation.

"She's trying to say she's mute," he interjected. Not one for subtly, for once I wanted to thank my brother, instead of punching him. But still, Korra was clueless.

"What does that mean?" So even Amul couldn't help…

"It means that she can't talk. Or sing. Or make most vocal sounds really. It's probably why you didn't notice her around—without being able to talk, you can easily manipulate how much others notice you, and my sister's gotten real good at being invisible."

I glared at my brother for his oh so flattering explanation—you can really only depend on him for so much, but Korra looked really sad at the news. Suddenly I found a pair of liquid blue eyes fixed upon my face with bottomless sympathy and sorrow. Embarrassed, I had to look away.

"That's so awful," she squeaked out in a whisper.

"But you don't know the worst of it," my brother said. In his characteristic enthusiasm at other's pain, he began to relate my biggest shame to the one person in the world I admired most. "Korra, do you know the meaning of our names?" Of course she didn't know! She's not Horathandhi! I wanted to slap my brother for stating the obvious. "Well, our name has three important parts. My whole name is Amuljan-gi Toj Toaht. The first part is personal, chosen by the spirits who tell our clan Wiseman (who is coincidentally my father), who then relays it to the expecting family. My personal name, Amuljan, means ambition." _You got that right_, I thought to myself. It was pure ambition that he thought anyone as naturally good and kind like Korra would ever go for someone as cocky and negligent as him. "The suffix '–gi' means that I am male clan royalty as the son of the clan's Wiseman and Chief (which are two different titles in fact)." _Wow, still trying to show himself off, even when when he's _supposed_ to be talking about me—so considerate._ "My second name is Toj, the name of the cycle I was born in, the cycle of comedy." Unsurprisingly, no one found my brother funny but himself. "Lastly, our surname links us with our ancestors, the ones who founded our village, and whatever they were trademark for, their descendants were practically guaranteed to have. My surname is Toaht, meaning descendent of the ancestor with the strongest voice. As the descendant of Toaht of strongest voice, his descendants are typically born with the best voices of all the Speakers in the village. My father and brother Karanthik have exceptionally good voices even with that considered, though I'm also probably a shoe-in for our strong voice trait. Any day now."

Korra followed this all patiently, if somewhat confused about the point. I, on the other hand, knew where this was going, and sobered as I began to shamefully tear-up as the pain of my reality was revealed.

"This girl is my younger sister. Her name is Nasah-ji Qa Toaht. She therefore shares the same surname, Toaht, which as I've said, indicates a particular aptitude at singing. Her first name, her personal name, means game-changer. The suffix '-ji' attached to it indicates that she is female royalty of the clan, equivalent of the same status of me, or any member of the Chief's current lineage. And lastly, her second name, Qa, means she was born in the cycle of music. Thus, her name means 'the Game-changer of Noble-birth Born of Music and Descended of the Elder of Strongest Voice'—a mouthful, I know." Regretfully, neither Korra nor I could argue with that point.

"When my sister was born, the whole village had so much faith in her abilities that they feasted even before she was born. You can imagine their shock then when their long-awaited "game-changing" Speaker came out completely silent. Her face was scrunched-up as though she were crying, but no sound came out; a Speaker that couldn't actually Speak—that's a game-changer alright." It seemed like Korra started to catch on. "They thought maybe something was wrong, and waited to see if it would go away naturally. After a few days passed with no change, my dad finally brought her to the village healer, only to have the healer tell my dad that this would never pass—my sister would never utter any sound her entire life. The descendant of Toaht of Strongest Voice, born of the music cycle, and even blessed by the spirits as a 'game-changer,' yet she couldn't talk, and therefore, would never Speak. It seemed like a massive cosmic joke—or a colossal failure."

The latter bit of my brother's speech, I stared at the wall, tears silently streaming down my face. Every day I tried to forget the joke that was my existence, but I could never run from the evidence that lay in my name. Why did I have to be born like this!

Korra's cool hand on mine stirred me from my despair, however. She bended the tears away from my heaving face and turned it towards her. She looked me straight in the eyes, then leaned-in, and planted a firm kiss on my mouth, utterly stilling my crying. My brother froze behind her at the scene. After a few moments, Korra pulled away, and smiled.

"I know I can't do anything, but I wish you could take my voice instead—people say I talk way too much anyway. However, I can give you something that will give you a voice I'll always be able to hear." With that she reached to something hanging around her neck, and took it off, placing it by me, and with tears shining in her eyes, donning the most of sympathetic smiles, she left the room. I just stared in awed silence at her departing form as she left through the door, while my brother sputtered in outrage.

"That's the last time I help you! I can't believe the Avatar chose my sister! Blah blah blah…" I couldn't care less what he was saying. The Avatar cared about _me_ of all people, the failure, and not only that, she had even kissed me! I looked down in embarrassment at the realization and noticed what she laid next to my hand. Picking it up, I saw it was a whistle carved into the shape of some animal I'd never seen before—it had massive paw and forearms with an oddly large face, but the hindquarters and legs of a dog, albeit a large one. Clutching it tightly to my chest, I knew right then that I had fallen for Korra, and I would do anything to make her love me back. I would become special enough to be her partner and work hard until we met again to at least gain enough of a voice to say three little words: I love you.


	4. Chapter 3: On Training

On Training…

Eight years have passed since those fateful encounters and my subsequent meeting with the Avatar. Seventeen now, I've grown into what I hoped was a Korra-worthy young woman.

Today was the day of Karan's wedding, and subsequently, the day I planned to leave home for good. My only real connection tying me home being with Karan, his marriage would take him away from me, and soon so would the duties of clan Chief. With nothing else keeping me home, I could finally pursue the one thing I'd been working towards for years: Korra's love. Now I just had to get my father to approve…

A bowl dropped in front of me and reminded me of my surroundings. Everyone in the village, including Kozu, his wife Sharazade, and their newborn son (the closest people to me besides my brother Karan), were gathered in the village square, around a fire, celebrating my brother's wedding. Looking at the couple, I couldn't help but smile at them. After we had returned from our trip from the Avatar, we were surprised to find Kozu and Sharazade engaged. Upon asking Karan how this came to be, he said Kozu had tried many times to propose to Sharazde multiple times while we were away, only to be rejected each time. Finally, he asked my brother to accompany him into the sand wastes one day to help him try something. There, Kozu had Karan Speak the image of Sharazade into life and he used his fire-bending to mold the form into a life-size glass sculpture of Sharazade. When they returned to town, he went straight to her house, put the statue on her doorstep, and left. After inquiring around town as to the origin of the statue, she arrived at Kozu's temporary home and finally accepted his proposal. Since then they've had four kids, three girls and a boy—three Speakers and what we hoped would possibly be our village's first bender, fire of course.

Taking in my surroundings, I watched the women dancing around the center, as the men sat down and played music. I sat near my brother and smiled at him as I clapped to the beat. Though I was sad to lose exclusive rights to my brother, I was happy for him—so happy, in fact, that I had something special in store for just him. After this dance it was my turn to do a solo one. The sister-in-law(s) of the bride always perform a special dance in honor of the bride that is meant to wish success on her wedding night, bless the happiness of her matrimony, and officially induct her into the sisterhood of her new family. I had been excitedly preparing for the important dance for months, and while I was considered one of the village's best dancers, I was excited to do my dance for another reason.

See, I meant what I had thought all those years ago. I wanted to become someone special for Korra. So when we returned from seeing the Southern Water Tribe and meeting the Avatar, I would sneak off and go out to the outskirts of town, bringing Feydra along for protection. There, it was like Korra's kiss had awakened a fierce desire and will within me and I would spend hours working on trying to Speak. Though I never got results, I never gave up. Slowly I managed to get from dry choking sounds to varying squeaks. But progress was slow and I was afraid maybe I would never be successful. It wasn't until one day I tried just the movement that something happened.

I stood at the outskirts of the village exhausted in the heat, tired from trying to Speak. Lazy, I decided to not try the vocal aspect, and just pursue the movement. Experimenting, I swung my hip around in a figure eight. And as I swung it, it felt as if a gust of wind passed by. I stopped—I was probably just imagining things. However, I tried again—this time completing two full figure eights with my hips. This time I definitely felt a gust blow past.

Entranced, for the rest of the day I continued to use my hip motions to stir the wind. By the end of the week, I knew what hip motions caused what reactions in the wind. But I was ready to move on to bigger things. I needed to expand—I still wasn't special enough. After that, I tried experimented with my body, realizing that certain arm, chest, abdomen, leg, and ankle motions, combined with other body motions in succession or union could cause certain changes in the wind. In a few months, I taught my body thoroughly how to manipulate the wind. For hours I would Dance in order to provoke the wind, but still, it felt as if I were only half-fulfilling my potential. Something told me this was not all I was meant to do, there was more.

One day as I was preparing a pack to take with me to training, Feydra brought me the little strange animal whistle Korra had given me all those years ago. Remembering fondly on it, I decided to bring it with me as a good-luck charm. That day, after training for a few hours, I grew bored and sat down to rest. Seeing the whistle, I tentatively blew on it. One clear note rang out into the silence of the sand-waste. Pleased at the sound, I blew some more, stringing a little melody together that seemed to speak of my longing for speech, a sound of my own. After I finished the impromptu tune, a moment later, I heard something. Listening carefully, it was as if waste responded, for a tune of equal longing seemed to call out to me. Shocked, I tried to play the tune again, but didn't get a response in return. I felt as if I imagined the whole thing. A few days later, however, bored on an uneventful session of practice, I pulled out the whistle and blew out my boredom. Immediately after I finished, the desert seemed to respond back with equal boredom. Scared at losing the moment again, I whistled back, trying to ask the desert how to relieve my boredom, and it seemed to respond back "by playing with me." I was shocked! Could I Speak with the sand-waste? But I hadn't Sang to it, spoken to Mujahase, Father Sky, nor Mujaurumei, Mother Earth. I hadn't even done the ritual movement! But thinking of the traditional Speak practices, I felt inspired. Quickly responding with my whistle, I told the wind that I had something special to try with them. They seemed to reply with trepidation, but desired to relieve their own boredom as well.

Standing, I breathed in, and thought carefully about all the body training I had done for the last few months. Was this all it was for? Had I found my purpose? Closing my eyes, and hoping for the best, I cast away my doubts, and began simply with the hip motions. Slowly I added arms and legs, then moved around adding ankle motions and the occasional chest movements as well. Soon I was in a full Dance, and to my surprise, the wind had eagerly responded by making its own music to supplement me. I danced for an hour—it was like my dancing made the wind-sand itself happy and with no voice to accompany it, it provided one itself. I had finally found a voice! The discovery thrilled me.

The next day I brought some instruments from my home, because it seemed that for me to be able to able to manipulate sound with my body, I had to first access it in its pure form. I tried my father's drum first. I drummed out an eager hello. But that met no response. I tried again. Still, silence. Frustrated, I moved onto my brother Karan's flute and blew out the same message. Still no response. I then tried my brother Amul's shaker and my mother's hand tumbrils to no avail. On the verge of giving up, I tried lastly my own hand-crafted tambourine. After a painfully long few minutes, the wind responded. Confused at why it had taken so long to respond, I quickly played-out the question. It responded to say that without a tangible voice, the instruments I made myself were my voice in its stead, and only by using my own instruments and getting as close to the essence of my voice, my manifest self-expression, as possible, could it connect with my nature and speak. Thinking back, I recalled that the first time we spoke, I had used the Avatar's whistle, not something of my own origin. At answering the logic of that, it only said every answer had its own time. Moving on, I continued to play with the tambourine, riling up the wind, then began dancing, allowing for the wind to play-out the music before eventually ceasing my own playing. I finally had my own special form of Speaking!

For the next couple of years I continued to perfect my form. By now, I had the process completely down. I began with an instrument of my own origin to draw the attention of the wind. Then after settling the mood and mode of our conversation, I began to dance to maintain continuation of our conversation, while the wind took over as my voice and instrument as the music. Over the years I had created many instruments to fulfill different roles, creating various melodies and choreography for myriad conversations, numerous situations. My form being solely sound based with no physical manifestation beyond sound, it wasn't true Speaking, but nonetheless, I finally felt like someone special, someone more worthy of Korra.

Now, after all these years, I would reveal my own Speech to my family and finally make them proud before finally leaving for my ultimate goal—the love of Korra.

The women had stopped dancing, and now everyone was eagerly awaiting my ceremonial dance. Shyly rising, I adjusted my ceremonial dress, and took a position in the center of the circle. For the occasion I had made a special pair of ankle bracelets adorned with bells. I would use them to keep the cheerful sound of the music. I had also brought a large drum I made to give a steady beat and a flute for the melody. I looked around at the crowd one last time. I had told my father that I didn't need the musicians for my dance, and while he was fully confused as to the reason, he trusted me and let me entertain my fancy. Now I looked at the face of Karan, who, while excited, could not hide his confusion, mirrored by hundreds of others in the crowd, at the crucial lack of music for such an important dance. Not discouraged, but eager and motivated, I reached for the drum, and began to beat a nice, steady beat. I continued for a minute, then abandoned it to pick up the flute and began blowing out the wishes of this song. However, everyone was shocked to hear that the beating of the drum continued, even though I had ceased to beat it. Some whispered in surprise, some in confusion, and even some with fear, but I continued my performance. After establishing the melody, I left the flute and started stomping out a beat with the bells on my ankles, and finally began to dance. The wind carried out my voice and music, and though to my audience there only appeared to be me dancing singularly, music, rich with heartfelt wishes and bittersweet congratulations, surrounded me as though a whole body of musicians were there as well. I seamlessly allowed myself to get absorbed into the music. I danced passionately, twirling in looping circles, intricate motions flowing from hands to arms and torso to legs to feet, and back-up again, hips and chest constantly rocking to the beat surrounding me, reflected in the tinkling around my ankles. Before I knew it, I had finished the sister-in-law's dance to the bride groom, and kneeled panting in front of my brother and his new wife, the music fading away with the air like the phantom it was. I dare not look up, but the silence I heard around me was deafening. It was if everyone in the village suddenly acquired my condition.


	5. Chapter 4: On Explanations

On Explanations…

I remained there, posed before my brother for what seemed an eternity while silence reigned around me. Tears began to rise in my eyes at my shame until one thunderous clap sounded throughout the crowd, piercing through the somber atmosphere. Lifting my head-up a bit to see my savior, I saw the clap had come from Kozu, whose face was alight with un-judgmental joy. Soon Karan's own slow claps joined that of Kozu's, and slowly, the crowd seemed to shake itself from shock, slowly joining in the reluctant appraisal.

Silently, I rose to my feet, keeping my head down the whole time. I was saddened that my performance and ability hadn't been received with the warmth that I had expected, but I was glad to at least not have to hide my Speaking any longer. Shaken, I was almost too afraid to carry out the next part of my plan, but Feydra's comforting presence as she made her way over to curl around my ankle reaffirmed my resolve. I lifted my head proudly and tried to ignore the hundreds of eyes trained on me. Making my way to my father's pallet, I saw his face was a carefully maintained expression of impassivity, but in his eyes I saw the surprise, anger, and sadly, hurt I had caused, but undeterred, I continued with my target. Stopping before him I prostrated myself on the ground before him, nimbly pulling out the Avatar whistle tucked in my skirts. Mustering up all the courage I could, I blew a single, defiant note. The wind-sand immediately responded and in my place intimated the request that would change my life forever: "Father, I would like to leave home."

Twenty minutes later, I sat solemnly in the living room of our family hut, Feydra lazily curled-up in my lap, with Karan seated at a distance to my side, and my mother seated remorsefully in front of me, and Amul smirking to himself next to her. After what seemed to be an endless breath, my finally father stepped into the room, sitting down solemnly on his mat next to mother. Immediately following what was now being called the "Nasah-ji's First Word" incident my father had to excuse myself and the family from the festivities for a private family meeting. Though the tribespeople were saddened at our leaving, father encouraged them to continue as hardily as if we were there—though I suspect they were mostly upset at not being able to hear on the drama that was soon to unfold. Since it was his wedding, Karan had no obligation to leave, but sensing I would need support like he always does, he came to help me through was sure to be a rough experience—though he also was apprehensive of what had just occurred. My father clearing his throat pulled me out of my reverie.

"What is the meaning of this Nasah-ji? What was that display?"

My head lowered, I took in a shaky breath; I had anticipated this, but it was a hard thing to finally express feelings I'd been holding in all my life. Looking up, I pointed at my throat and shook my head. My father nodded brusquely—of course he knew I couldn't speak. Then I balled my hand into a fist and ground it into my other palm—I was frustrated. My father nodded again, a tad more receptive. Then held my hands out and swept the room, indicating everyone there, then clapped and moved my mouth as though I were singing—everyone here in this family Spoke. Then I once again pointed to my throat and shook my head—but not me. Sighing, I pointed my thumb at my chest and then clutched my hands to my chest—I needed something. I hadn't told anyone, not even Karan, about my love for Korra, my desire to be something better for her—and I didn't want to start now. So I thought about something else I needed, I needed a voice for the outside world, I needed a way to express myself, I needed a way to be just as special as anyone else in my family. Nothing I could say could express this enough, so I decided to let the wind-sand tell it. I pulled out my whistle, much to the confusion of my family, and blew out a short tune to summon the wind. I expressed how I felt to it and it sang a tune of desire and fulfillment for my family—desire to be better than what I was and peace at doing so. Finishing, the wind-sand left and my father looked thoughtfully at me while my mother and Karan looked sorrowfully at me—Amul pretended he hadn't heard a thing. Still, my father's heart wasn't settled.

"But what is this gift you are possessing? You cannot sing, so you cannot Speak. What is the wind-sand doing for you then and why did I not know about this?"

I shook my head to answer a majority of his question—I didn't exactly know how this worked and why, but I pointed to my instruments, pantomiming making them, then put my two fists together, and then pointed to my throat—my instruments equaled my voice. Then I waved my hands in the air and then drew them to my chest and clasped my hands in unison—but the air decided to help me. At not telling my father, I simply clapped my hands together then shook them festively—I had wanted it to be a surprise. Father only nodded and looked-off beyond me, thinking, while I awaited the heart of the matter: my request to leave. Breaking the silence, Amul surprised us all by speaking first.

"And now you want to leave?" My mother's breath caught, and Karan looked away. My father only stared. I nodded yes.

"But why?" my mother asked. Trying to think of how to answer that feeling, Karan cut me off.

"Because she needs to be somewhere where she can grow into herself—become the person she wants to be, with nothing holding her back." I looked at Karan whose eyes were bright with sadness and understanding—he knew there was more to my reasons, but respected my not sharing it with him. I realized I would miss him more than I could bear to think about, he'd always understood me the best as long as I could remember. Finally my father spoke again.

"I understand your desire for independence, but you are unprepared for the world. Though your gift is intriguing, I see no way it can help you survive the world, especially traversing the sand-wastes alone." I looked away—I hadn't thought about that. At a loss, I was falling into despair when Karan stepped-in.

"What if I trained her? I could teach her how to survive on her own?" But my father only shook his head.

"You will be busy building your new family and taking on new duties in the tribe. You haven't the time." Then once again Amul surprised everyone by speaking-up.

"What if Kozu taught her? He's from the outside world and can teach her what she needs to know there and he's not as busy as Karan will be." I stared agape at Amul—not only was it shocking that he was trying to help me in the first place, but he had even given a decent idea. When he looked as my shocked face, he only blushed and looked away.

"That's not a bad idea, Ullrithik," my mother said. My father only looked ahead, stroking his beard and thinking. After a long couple of minutes he came to a decision.

"Fine. You will mercifully ask Kozu if this okay with him, and if I haven't deemed you ready in a month, you will forget these foolish ideas of adventure."

I smiled from ear to ear and shook my head ardently. I had waited eight years for this moment—I could bear another month.


End file.
